


into the air

by tokiwas



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-28
Updated: 2018-03-28
Packaged: 2019-04-14 07:00:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14130630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tokiwas/pseuds/tokiwas
Summary: Originally posted in the Pacific Rim Kink Meme way back in 2013.Prompt: "Basically, tell me the story of the Ghosts of Oblivion Bay, the haunted remnants of the kaiju war and those who died fighting it, and the survivors who try to deal with them. Make it as angsty or as creepy or as tragic as you like, I don't mind."





	into the air

**Author's Note:**

> Link to the full prompt: https://pacificrimkink.livejournal.com/2747.html?thread=3465403#t3465403
> 
> Title taken from "Wrapped in Piano Strings" by Radical Face.

While the rest of the Shatterdome sleeps, Tendo Choi works.  
  
He doesn’t mind. He’s been doing this job for years, and this job requires him to stay awake even in the quietest parts of the night. With the right amount of caffeine, the job is manageable. Sometimes even enjoyable.  
  
The quiet of the night comes with a sort of peace Tendo hasn’t felt in years. There’s no more Kaiju. The Breach is sealed. He still finds it quite hard to believe, that the war is over. Everything they fought for was worth it.  
  
“ _Endure this,_ ” his grandfather had told him, years ago. And Tendo had endured, and Tendo had made it out alive.  
  
He smiles to himself, runs a finger across the rosary of beads around his wrist.  
  
And suddenly the Comm crackles to life, static filling the quiet of the night. Tendo checks the Comm, but the thing is off.  
  
_Just a dream_ , he thinks.  _This is all just some weird dream._  But that’s impossible, he knows that. Tendo’s daily caffeine intake is enough to fuel a normal person for three days. Maybe the caffeine’s the reason why he’s hearing things.  
  
And then screams tear through the static, and Tendo realises in horror whose voices they are.  
  
_Fuck._  
  
It’s probably the grief, the grief and guilt of sending Jaeger pilots to their death. The guilt of sending the pilots, his friends off to die, coupled together with the high intake of caffeine, it’s making him hear things.  
  
Nothing else can explain why he’s hearing the screams of the Wei Tang triplets, just before their deaths, a week after the closing of the Breach.  
  
**  
  
“I’m not really sure why you want to stay up here with me, but thanks for the company.”  
  
Tendo offers a mug of coffee to a sleepy looking Newt Geiszler.  
  
“No problem dude,” Newt yawns, accepting the coffee gratefully. “Everything’s so hectic nowadays, with the whole decommissioning thing. It’s nice to get away to some peace and quiet, which apparently, can only be found in the middle of the night up here.”  
  
“You skipping work or something?” Tendo asks.  
  
“Nope,” Newt replies. “Sometimes you just need to get away from all the noise, y’know.”  
  
“That I know, buddy,” Tendo says, giving Newt a smile. They clink their coffee mugs together as an agreement.  
  
The Comm starts acting up again after half an hour of silence, and Tendo stiffens. Stay cool, he tells himself. You don’t want to let anyone know you’re seeing and hearing things. A few nights have passed since Tendo heard the Wei Tang triplets on the Comm and not a single night goes by without him hearing the voices of dead pilots on the Comm ever since.  
  
“ _Cherno Alpha, we’ve been hit with some kind of acid!_ ” Sasha Kaidonovsky’s voice sounds through the Comm after two minutes of static.  
  
Tendo swallows his fear and guilt and grief, and keeps his eyes on the mug of coffee in front of him.  
  
“Dude,” Newt says breathlessly, once the static dies down, and Tendo turns to him. The scientist’s eyes are wide and his face is pale. “Did you hear that?”  
  
“Hear what?” Tendo asks, trying to keep calm.  
  
“T-the Comm, d-did you hear that? T-the static, and then-”  
  
“You heard it too?” Tendo demands.  
  
“Well, yeah!” Newt’s voice is shaking. “T-there was static, and then there was the voice- the Russian pilot- Sasha, was it? O-or Aleksis? I can never get them right-”  
  
“Okay,” Tendo interrupts, breathing out a sigh of relief. “So I’m not hearing things.”  
  
“So this has happened before?” Newt exclaims. “Jesus Christ, man, why didn’t you say anything?”  
  
“I thought it was just me,” Tendo replies softly, brushing his knuckles against his rosary. “I’ve been hearing voices on the Comm for the past few nights. I thought I was just hearing things because I sent those pilots to their death, I guess.”  
  
“It’s not your fault, dude,” Newt says, in a tone Tendo has never heard him speak in before. It almost sounds like guilt. But Newt’s expression looks normal, so he brushes it aside. “But now you know you’re not the only one,” the scientist continues. “Maybe both of us have gone crazy or something!”  
  
Tendo gives him a half-smile, and the both of them lapse into silence, thinking about the voice on the Comm.   
  
Maybe Newt is right. Maybe they’ve both gone crazy.  
  
** 

_“-the hull! It went through the hull!”_

Raleigh shakes his head, shakes the painful memory away, and concentrates on the work in front of him. 

It’s been a rough week, memories of Yancy flashing back more often than before. Raleigh knows it’s just ghost-drifting, but he doesn’t understand why it’s happening more frequently. Maybe it’s because the breach is sealed, maybe it’s his grief that he can live in a peaceful world when his brother can’t that’s fuelling the multiple ghost-drifts. Overflowing emotions, maybe that’s the reason.

_“-Raleigh, listen to me, you have to-”_

“Raleigh?”

Mako’s voice breaks through the memory. Raleigh turns to look at her.

“Yes?” he says, fighting to keep his voice steady. Those words, those last words from Yancy, it never fails to hit him hard, never fails to make his throat clog up, never fails to make his eyes burn with tears. 

“Are you alright?” Mako’s voice sounds concerned.

“I’m fine,” Raleigh says, forcing a smile. But the concern in Mako’s eyes doesn’t go away, and Raleigh knows, she’s been in his head, she knows he’s lying.

“It’s just, memories of Yancy,” he says softly. Mako nods sympathetically.

“I understand,” she says, taking his hand and squeezing it.

Raleigh smiles, a genuine one this time, and squeezes her hand back.

He may grieve for living in a peaceful world without his brother, but with Mako by his side, he’ll never regret it.

**

_A little boy runs up to his older brother, eyes shining with excitement, hands holding a badly wrapped package._

_“Happy birthday, Yancy!”_

_The older boy turns to the little boy and smiles._

_“Thanks, Rals! What did you get for me?”_

_“Open it!” The little boy shoves the package into his brother’s hands._

_Two pairs of hands attack the present, pieces of tape and wrapping paper come undone, and the package is finally unwrapped._

_“Shit. Rals, did you make this?”_

_The older boy stares down at the mess of colourful cloth in his hands, his smile widening into a grin._

_“Yeah I did!”_

_“Rals, this is great! I’m a real superhero now!”_

_The little boy is caught up in his brother’s loving hug._

_“We can’t tell mom and dad, though,” the little boy says. “They can’t find out that you’re a superhero.”_

_“Yeah, we can’t.” The older boy ruffles his little brother’s hair. “And we can’t tell mom and dad about your costume, either.”_  
  
_“But I don’t have a costume,” the little boy says, confused._

_“Yes, you do,” the older boy says, winking at his little brother. “Sidekicks need costumes, too, you know.”_

Raleigh’s eyes snap open, and he realises he’s crying.

Shit, he thinks, wiping at his tears. Mako stirs next to him, and he stiffens.

“Raleigh?” she says sleepily, pushing herself up, and to Raleigh’s surprise there are tears in her eyes.

“Mako, you’re crying,” he says quickly, swiping the tears away. “What happened?”

“You made your brother a superhero costume?” Mako asks. “That’s so cute.”

Raleigh blushes, and he shrugs, embarrassed. “Yeah,” he admits. “My brother always wanted to be a superhero. That’s funny. I had the same dream too.” He laughs a little as Mako wipes the tears from his face this time. “Another bout of ghost drifting, I guess.”

“I suppose so,” Mako says. “But why did I dream from your brother’s point of view?”

Raleigh freezes. “What?”  _No way, it can’t be…_

“I dreamt that I got a superhero costume from you, so I figured-”

“Shit,” Raleigh curses. “You weren’t ghost drifting with me.” He has to take a breath before continuing. “You were ghost drifting with my  _brother._ ”

Mako’s eyes widen.

“But how is that possible?” she asks. Raleigh meets her worried stare.

“I have no idea,” he replies.

**

Herc Hansen used to think ghost drifting was just a side effect faced by every Jaeger Pilot. Every dream or shared thought he had with both his brother and his son, he had always brushed it aside as something faced by every pilot.

Now, he thinks it’s a curse.

A long time ago Herc liked the feel of his son’s mind in his own. Most pilots found it weird to share bits and pieces of another person’s mind outside the drift, but Herc liked it. At least he could understand his son better this way. The pieces of Chuck’s thoughts and memories that stayed etched in his mind outside their Jaeger, he took care of them, fit them in the jagged holes of his mind that the drift clawed out, and made them a home. And he knew that Chuck did the same with the pieces of Herc’s mind inside his.

The drift was home to them. Even its remnants, the shared thoughts and memories they had as a side-effect of it, comforted the both of them.

But now, to see fragments of his son’s memories, snatches of his son in the corners of his mind, for Chuck to haunt him in his sleep, to him it’s a taunt, a torment. A cruel reminder that he’s alive, his son is dead, and he couldn’t save his family, no matter how hard he tried. 

The choice he made didn’t matter in the end. He lost everything anyway.

_“Fuck you, dad, I hate you!”_

The memory echoes back in Herc’s mind, and he shakes the thought away. Lately the flashes of Chuck’s memories have been coming more often than not, and Herc hates it. He wants to forget everything, he doesn’t want to remember how much his son hated him, how much his son loved him.

Because it reminds him of how much he loved his son, and how he couldn’t save his son in the end.

**

_They’re flipping switches, and they both know how this is going to end._

_There is fear and love bleeding in their minds, fear of death, and also love, love for a father, love for a daughter._

_“Sensei, aishiteimasu,” a voice echoes through the Comm, and there is a sudden overwhelming rush of emotions, of pride and love from a sensei, a father._

_They turn to each other. Chuck nods, despite the endless waves of fear crashing through his mind, he doesn’t want to die, but there is no other way. There is a thought that flows from Stacker to his co-pilot: “You truly are your father’s son.”_

_It is a frantic, frenzied scatter of “I love yous” before the payload detonates, an overflowing flood of love, endless echoes of the mind, for people who will never receive those thoughts. “I love you, dad.” “Mako, Aishiteru.”_

_The payload detonates, and it all ends._

Herc doesn’t wake up screaming or gasping, none of that nightmare shit.

He wakes up like how a normal person would, if they did not dream. He wakes up a person left with nothing inside him, because his heart had died at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean weeks ago. He does not cry, because he has nothing left inside him, not even tears. Chuck Hansen was everything to Herc, and he was taken away at the price of peace.

Fuck peace.

Herc doesn’t have time to grieve, doesn’t have time to think about the dream he had, doesn’t have time to hate the world for taking his son away from him, doesn’t have time to hate everyone for living when the one person who deserved to live in a world without Kaiju is dead. He has a Shatterdome to decommission. He gets up, and gets ready for work, just like always, with Max at his heels.

But this time Herc can’t help but wonder why he had dreamt of Striker Eureka’s final mission, when he wasn’t even in the Jaeger during the time.

You can’t experience fragments of memories shared by people you didn’t drift with.

**

“Newton, if this is another of your ‘practical jokes’, I assure you I am not laughing.”

Hermann shoots Newt his usual ‘I am tired of your antics Newton Geiszler’ look as Newt enters the lab.

“What do you mean, Hermann?” Newton asks, genuinely confused. Any other time he would be putting on a show, but this time, he has no idea what his fellow scientist is talking about.

“Don’t play the innocent card, Newton, I know you have been spending time in LOCCENT with Mr. Choi,” Hermann snaps, and slams a pile of papers down in front of Newt. “You know there are no more Jaegers, so stop sending the lab these data reports on the Jaegers.”

“What?” Newt splutters. “You’ve been getting data on the Jaegers?”

“I told you to stop-” Hermann begins, but Newt cuts him off. “So Tendo and I aren’t the only crazy ones? The whole ‘voices on the Comm’ thing has spread? Is this real? Is the whole Shatterdome going crazy? Or-”

“Newton, what are you talking about?” Hermann interrupts, irritation turned to confusion.

“The ‘voices on the Comm' thing!” Newt exclaims. “You mean I didn’t tell you? Two nights ago I was hanging out with Tendo in LOCCENT, it’s late at night, and suddenly we hear static from the Comm. And the thing is off, I mean, nobody uses it anymore. And then- we hear the voices of one of the Russians! Sasha, or Aleksis, I always get the names wrong…”

“Newton,” Hermann says slowly. “Are you saying that the voices of Jaeger pilots can be heard through the Comm?”

“Yeah!” Newt says. “It’s been a few days since then and we keep hearing voices!” His face drops. “Tendo thought it was his guilt of sending the pilots to their deaths,” he continues, in a low voice. “I thought it… I thought it was because I drifted with the Kaiju, the Kaiju knew about the Jaegers, and-”

"How many times must I tell you, it wasn’t your fault,” Hermann says, gently, patiently. “You said it yourself - the Kaiju learnt from all the clones’ previous fights and they adapted to it.

“Well, yeah, but…”

“The more important thing is,” Hermann continues. “We are getting reports on the Jaegers, when they are all either blasted to pieces, stuck in the Breach, or lying around in Oblivion Bay. And, you claim that you and Mr. Choi heard the voice of Mrs. Kaidonovsky through the Comm. Obviously, something is wrong here.”

“We could ask LOCCENT about the data,” Newt suggests, guilt replaced by curiosity.

**

To their surprise, LOCCENT doesn’t know where the data came from.

“I dunno, man,” one of the workers says to Hermann and Newt. “I just found it on the table, and it was for the lab, so I sent it to you guys. I have no idea where it came from.”

In the end they find the LOCCENT chief to get some answers.

“I don’t know anything about it,” Tendo answers when questioned, and the two scientists know that he’s speaking the truth. “And here I was thinking the both of us are the only ones who were going crazy.” He raises an eyebrow at Newt. “Maybe the grief has gotten to us, or there’s some leak going on that’s making us see and hear some pretty weird things.”

“I’m quite sure there is no chemical leak,” Hermann affirms. “If you say you heard the voices of the pilots a few days ago, due to the lengthy period of time we would all be dead by now if there really was one.”

Suddenly the Comm crackles to life.

“Shit,” Tendo curses. “Why is it acting up now?”

“What’s going on?” one of the techs ask nervously. “Dude, did you just turn it on or what?”

“I didn’t,” Tendo says.

“ _-well my father always said, if you have the shot then take it,_ ” Chuck Hansen’s voice sounds through the Comm. There’s screaming from some of the techs at the sound of the dead Jaeger pilot’s voice, frightened exclamations, and a few of them even run out of the door.

“ _It’s been a pleasure working with you sir,_ ” Chuck’s voice continues, and to Tendo’s horror he sees the Marshall standing at the entrance, bulldog at his feet. His eyes widen at the sound of his son’s voice.

The faint sound of a nuclear explosion rips through LOCCENT, and it crackles back into static, then to silence.

Herc leaves.

Tendo swears, and runs after him.

**

“Marshall, wait!”

“Back to your station, Choi,” Herc commands, walking quickly, Max trotting after him happily.

“Herc-”

“What was that?” Herc spits out, finally halting, turning around to face Tendo, and Tendo sees anger clear in Herc’s expression, but also tears in his eyes. “What the  _fuck_  was that, Tendo?”

“I don’t know,” Tendo admits softly. “It’s been like that for the past week, sir. Usually happens at night, but today-”

“You mean this has happened before?” Herc snaps. Tendo winces.

“Yes, sir,” he answers, dropping his gaze to look at the bulldog.

“Is…” Herc takes a deep breath, then continues. “Is it always Chuck?”

“No, sir,” Tendo replies. “This is the first time I’ve heard Chuck’s voice on the Comm, actually. Usually I hear the triplets… and the Russians… and Stacker. But never Chuck.”

He lapses into silence after that, and Herc says nothing. A heavy type of quiet passes between them, Herc’s grief for his son lingering in the air.

After a while, Herc bends down, buries his face in his dog’s fur, and cries for the first time since his son’s death.

Tendo can do nothing but put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.

**

As the decommissioning of the Hong Kong Shatterdome continues, the strange incidents happen more frequently. The voices on the Comm get louder, clearer, and the reports on the Jaegers keep coming. It gets to the point where some workers swear they hear the sound of the triplets playing basketball in the middle of the night and sometimes Ukranian Hardhouse blasts over radios which are switched off. Many of the workers resign due to the mysterious events out of fear, and the Shatterdome is left with half of the small number they started out with after the war.

Herc lets them leave. He doesn’t ask questions, he just says that they’re free to go.

Exactly six weeks after the breach is sealed, Tendo approaches Herc.

“Sir, I have a suggestion,” he says nervously. Raleigh, Mako, Newt and Hermann flank him, their eyes filled with concern.

“You’re free to speak,” Herc says tiredly, hand scratching Max’s ears absent-mindedly.

“I think we should go to Oblivion Bay,” Tendo says, after a pause.  
  
Herc raises an eyebrow. “Why do you think we should do that?” he asks.

“Because all the Jaegers are in Oblivion Bay,” Raleigh pipes up. “Well, almost all of them.” His voice trails off, remembering how Herc’s Jaeger had been blasted to pieces at the bottom of the ocean, and the remains of the Jaeger still had yet to be found.

“All the strange events that are happening have something to do with the Jaegers,” Mako says, picking up where Raleigh left off. Raleigh gives her an apologetic smile. “Sir, if we can, once the Shatterdome decommissioning is complete, why not we go to Oblivion Bay to see why these events occur?”

Herc looks down at Max, and the others watch him nervously.

“Yes,” he says softly, after a long pause, still looking at Max, as if he’s talking to the dog and not the people in front of him. “Why not.”

**

After the Shatterdome is decommissioned, Herc, Tendo, Raleigh, Mako, Newt and Hermann go to Oblivion Bay.

They don’t know if they’re really going crazy, or there’s something waiting for them there. All they know is that if they don’t go to the Jaeger’s resting place, they will never know the real answer.

**

The Jaeger’s graveyard is eerie, with pieces of metal strewn all over the place, bits and pieces of the giant machines which were destroyed in their fight to protect the world. The addition of the wreckage of Crimson Typhoon and Cherno Alpha gives the place a more melancholy feel, that it really is all over. The Jaeger program really is done.

At first it just seems normal. It’s just a place where ruined Jaegers go. There’s nothing wrong.

The six of them break up and start wandering around. Raleigh visits Romeo Blue. Mako heads for Coyote Tango. Tendo walks up and down, stopping at every Jaeger. Newt and Hermann inspect the wreckage of metal strewn everywhere, seeing which piece fits which Jaeger. Herc takes Max to visit his first Jaeger, Lucky Seven.

And that’s where everything changes.

**

Mako’s eyes fill with tears at the sight of her heroic Jaeger, the one which saved her from Onibaba. No matter how much she loved Gipsy Danger, Coyote Tango has always been and always will be a very special Jaeger to her, as it saved her life.

“Coyote Tango,” she whispers softly, running her hands over the faded paint and rusted metal. “Thank you for saving me.”

And suddenly she hears Tamsin’s voice in her head, her loud, beautiful laugh. She turns around quickly, but there’s no one there.

“T-tamsin-san?” she asks nervously.

_Mako-chan._  The voice seems to come from Coyote’s scraps, her name vibrating in her ears, in Tamsin’s voice.

It’s strange, hearing the voice of a dead person, emitting from the pieces of ruined metal around her. But at the same time, she’s not scared. 

Mako closes her eyes as Tamsin whispers memories into her ears.  _Don’t worry, Mako-chan, I’ll help you dye your hair. No, no, Mako-chan, you should use this shade. It fits you better. Take care of Stacker for me, Mako-chan._

_Mako-chan, you’ve grown._  Mako smiles, tears running down her face. “Thank you, Tamsin-san,” she whispers. “How are you?”

_Same as always_ , Tamsin’s voice answers.  _You did great, Mako-chan._

_Mako,_  another voice says, and this time it’s Stacker’s voice coming from the ruined Jaeger.

“Sensei.” Her eyes open at the sound of Stacker’s voice. “Sensei… How…” It couldn’t be. Sensei had died in Striker Eureka, which had been blasted to smithereens. There was nothing left of Striker Eureka now. And yet…

_I promised you, didn’t I?_  Stacker’s voice says.  _I will always be here for you._

Mako laughs, wipes the tears from her face, and presses her fingers against the dented metal pieces.

“It was you, wasn’t it?” she asks the Jaeger. “Your voice on the Comm, the reports on the Jaegers coming in… It was all you.”

There is no answer to the question, but the whispers of Tamsin and Stacker’s voice in her ears confirms it. Mako doesn’t mind anyway. She closes her eyes, presses her hands into the remains of the Jaeger, and lets the memories left behind in her giant metal saviour take her.

_Mori-san, more control. Never let your emotions get the best of you in a fight._

_Mako-chan, being a Jaeger Pilot doesn’t mean that you have to be strong all the time. Cry when you want to cry._

_You are a brave girl. I am so proud to have seen you grown._

_You’re the bravest kid I’ve ever known, Mako-chan. You’ll do fine._

_Mako, you can finish this. I’ll always be here for you._

**

Tendo had promised himself, the first time he saw a Jaeger fall and its Jaeger Pilots die, that he would do this the day he visited Oblivion Bay.

He starts from Tacit Ronin. Hands clasped together, he says a silent prayer for the fallen pilots, for the Jaeger itself.

As he prays, he hears a few whispers in Japanese. Tendo’s eyes snap open, and he turns around, looking for the source of the voice. But there’s no one there. Besides, the voice seemed to have come from the Jaeger, and it sounded familiar, like…

Tendo thinks he’s just imagining things. Maybe it’s just the wind. 

Once he finishes praying, he moves on to the next Jaeger. Crimson Typhoon, one of the last inhabitants of the graveyard. Tendo clasps his hands together again, and says a prayer for the triplets and their one of a kind Jaeger.

In the midst of his praying, he hears the soft thudding of a basketball against a concrete floor.

Tendo opens his eyes again, and looks around to see if there are any basketball-carrying tourists hanging outside the graveyard. The place had apparently grown into a tourist attraction, but no visitors were allowed inside until it was properly cleaned up.

But no one was outside. Tendo turns back to the Jaeger, and continues his prayer. But then-

_Tendo! Long time no see!_

Tendo stiffens at the voice, the Cantonese words in his ears.

_Whoa, man, what’s with the scared face?_  Just like before, the voice is emitted from the ruined Jaeger in front of him.  _Are we really that scary to you?_

“…Hu?” Tendo tries, still keeping his eyes closed.

_Wrong! It’s Jin!_  A flurry of laughter escapes from the Jaeger, and Tendo can’t help but smile. The sound of the basketball thudding doesn’t cease, even as the laughter continues.

“I’m pretty sure you’re Hu,” Tendo says in Cantonese, grinning. He opens his eyes, but there’s no one there, just him and the fallen Jaeger. But this time Tendo’s not scared anymore.

_Damn it, second brother!_  A similar voice echoes in his ears.  _I told you I don’t sound like that!_

_Wow, Tendo_ , another voice sneers, and Tendo knows it’s the eldest, Cheung.  _It’s been weeks and your Cantonese still isn’t up to par yet._

“Maybe because your lessons are shit,” Tendo teases, and three horrified voices gasp in unison as the sound of the basketball keeps going.

_I’m pretty sure it’s because you’re a shit student,_  Hu protests.

Tendo laughs at that. “So, what’s the deal?” he asks. “You guys rigging the Comm, sending us reports, even when you’re lazing around here playing basketball? Was it you?”

_Maaaaaybe,_  three voices drawl together. Tendo smiles, knowing the answer. “Yeah, maybe,” he says. “Anyway, I have to go. I’ve got things to do.”

_Like what, work on your Cantonese?_  The three voices howl in laughter as Tendo makes his way to the next Jaeger.

It may be strange, but it’s not scary. 

It’s almost like old times, really.

**

Raleigh smiles at the remnants of Romeo Blue.

“Look at the state of you,” he whistles. “And to think you were my favourite back in the day.”

The Jaeger doesn’t reply, of course, but Raleigh talks to it like it’s a real person.

“Well, I can’t say much for my own Jaeger, though,” he continues. “I mean, she’s gone down the Breach. How was she, by the way? Did she take care of you before Mako got to her?” He laughs to himself as he runs his hands across the faded blue paint.

“It wasn’t your fault, y’know,” he says softly. “The thing that happened… Knifehead… It wasn’t your fault.”

_Wasn’t your fault either, Becket_ , a voice booms suddenly, and Raleigh freezes.

_Yeah, it wasn’t your fault, Becket_! Another voice says, similar to the first one. All Raleigh can think of is two brothers, having a drink with him and Yancy six years ago. He looks at the Jaeger, where the voices seemed to have come from.

“You guys,” he says, in wonder. “Where are you?”

_Right in front of you!_  One of the voices says. Raleigh was right, the voice did come from the Jaeger.  _You’re Raleigh, right? The younger Becket?_

“That’s me,” Raleigh replies, dropping his head to look at the ground, at the nuts and bolts and metal strewn all over the floor. If the voices came from the Jaegers, then there was no chance of him hearing Yancy. Because…

_Hey, man, why the glum face?_  The second voice echoes from the ruined Jaeger.

“Nothing,” Raleigh says, blinking back his tears.  _Shit._  Why is he… “Just thinking about Yancy.”

_You miss your big bro?_  The first voice asks.

“Yeah,” Raleigh admits.

_So why not you talk to him?_  The second voice asks him.

Raleigh opens his mouth, about to tell Romeo Blue that his Jaeger was gone, trapped in the Breach, when suddenly-

_Raleigh, listen to me._  Yancy’s voice echoes in his ears, but the words don’t sound loud or frightened. It’s low, gentle, calm, reassuring.

“Yancy,” he breathes. “Yancy, how did you…”

_I hitched a ride on your escape pod, baby bro_ , Yancy’s voice laughs.

Nothing else is asked after that. And even if there are questions at the back of Raleigh’s brain, he pushes them aside, because he got his brother back. Even if it’s just his voice, it’s still Yancy.

It’s not a hallucination, it’s really him. Yancy.

The laughter of the Gage twins echo in the air as Raleigh drops to his knees, buries his face in his hands, and laughs and cries at the same time. Yancy’s voice just keeps whispering in his ears, turning the words that had haunted him for five years into a comfort, a reassurance.

_Raleigh, listen to me. Raleigh, listen to me. Raleigh, listen to me._

** 

“Look, Max,” Herc says, as he and his bulldog approach what’s left of Lucky Seven. “Do you remember her?”

Max barks, and wags his tail.

“I know she’s doesn’t look as cool or powerful as Striker did,” Herc tells the dog. “But she was my first Jaeger, and she was a beauty.”

Max waddles up to the Jaeger, sniffing around the pieces of metal. Herc leads the dog around the scraps of the fallen Jaeger, letting him explore, while at the same time remembering the memories he and Scott shared in that Jaeger.

Herc doesn’t hate his brother. He can’t do that, no matter how hard he tries. Scott’s his brother, after all. He can’t forgive him, that’s for sure, but he will never not love the man who was once a little boy who held his hand when the both of them were still kids.

But somehow Herc’s thoughts flow to Chuck, not Scott, as he presses his fingers against the dents and tears of the Jaeger. Chuck, who had screamed at him, told him he hated him, when he found out about Angela. Chuck, who snarled “don’t come back” every time he called the boy to tell him he was going off for a Kaiju kill. Chuck, who only had cold glares and cruel words to give Herc. Chuck, who only wanted to be the best, and wanted nothing more.

…Chuck, his son, the one he saved instead of Angela. Despite everything, Herc would always love Chuck more than anything else, even if Chuck hated Herc. No matter how much he grieved for Angela, he would never regret not saving Chuck, never think about what would happen if he saved Angela instead of his boy. Herc will always live with a million regrets piled on his shoulders, but saving Chuck will never be one of them.

It’s useless, anyway. The boy died in the end.

_You’re going to lose the dog if you’re just going to stand there, you know._  Scott’s voice echoes from the Jaeger, like a forgotten memory released from the Jaeger’s rusty hull.

“Shut up,” Herc grunts, wiping away his tears viciously. “Max, c’mere.” The bulldog leaves a pile of shredded metal and runs back to him. Herc looks for any sign of Scott, but all he can see is the giant Jaeger in front of him.

_What are you doing here, anyway?_  Scott asks him.

“What are you doing here?” Herc shoots the question back at him. “Don’t you have a job, Scott? Don’t tell me you’ve been lying around here this whole time.”

_I’m not Uncle Scott_ , the voice laughs, and how could Herc forget? Their voices have always sounded similar.

“Chuck,” he says, in wonder. How is this possible? How could Chuck be here, when he’s supposed to be at the bottom of the ocean…?

_Hey, dad_ , Chuck’s voice echoes from Lucky, and Herc can imagine Chuck’s face, grinning, looking up from the mess of ruined metal. Max barks happily, and runs up to the Lucky’s hull.  _Chuck’s there_ , Herc thinks. He goes up to the hull, closes his eyes, imagines Chuck in front of him.

You been taking care of Max properly? Chuck asks, and laughs as Max barks at the sound of his master calling his name.

“Yeah,” Herc replies, his eyes brimming with tears. “How about you, son? How did you get here, anyway?”

_I haven’t been here all this time, dad,_  Chuck says, and Herc imagines him laughing, kneeling down to pet Max.  _I came with you._

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Herc runs his fingers along the rusted steel, his beautiful Jaeger.

_It means what it means!_  Chuck sounds embarrassed and stubborn, as if he doesn’t want to explain. But Herc understands anyway.

“You did a good job, son,” he murmurs softly, pressing his forehead against Lucky’s hull, imagining Chuck’s forehead pressed against his. “I’m so proud of you.”

Chuck just laughs, the sound echoing from the Jaeger soft and happy, and in that moment, for the first time in six weeks, Herc Hansen has never felt more alive.

**

“…And I think that one belongs to Nova Hyperion.”

Hermann mutters to himself as he and Newt wander along the Jaeger’s graveyard, trying to see which stray pieces fits the Jaegers lying all around them.

“Do you think they’ll let us put the pieces together?” Newt asks Hermann, picking up a bolt from the ground. “I’m pretty sure this belongs to Cherno Alpha.”

He fits the bolt into the Jaeger’s palm before Hermann can protest. “There you go, buddy,” he says, patting the large metal hand. “It’s yours.”

_Thank you, doctor,_  a voice with a thick Russian accent echoes from the Jaeger, eerily similar to Aleksis Kaidonovsky’s voice.

“Holy shit!” Newt splutters. “Hermann, did you hear that?”

“Y-yes, yes I did!” Hermann stammers in reply. “B-but how is that possible?”

“Mr… Mr. Kaidonovsky, is that you?” Newt plucks up the courage to ask the Jaeger.

_Yes it’s me, doctor,_  the voice replies. Hermann lets out a little strangled-sounding squeak at the sound of the voice emitting from the Jaeger.

“Have you been causing all the weird events that have been happening in the Shatterdome?” Newt asks.

_Hmm…? Strange events?_

“We keep receiving reports on the Jaegers,” Hermann finally speaks up. “And LOCCENT keeps hearing your voices on the Comm, even though it is off. Do you have something to do with it?

_It is us, doctor,_  Sasha Kaidonovsky’s voice says this time.  _And yet it is not us. Do you understand?_

“I’m afraid not,” Hermann says.

_I mean to say that we are not the only ones_ , Sasha explains.  _All the other Jaeger pilots are here too. We do not want to leave our Jaegers, not yet. We want to see what the world has become now the Kaiju are gone._

“All of them?” Newt pipes up.

_Yes, doctor, all of them._  Sasha says.  _Some of us cannot leave the ones we love behind, so they stay with them. And ones like us, who have already lost all our loved ones, stay behind to stay with our Jaegers. We reside in them now._

Newt and Hermann look around at the Jaeger graveyard. Tendo is facing the Chinese Jaeger Shaolin Rogue, head bowed as if in prayer. Mako stands motionless in front of Coyote Tango. They make out the shape of Raleigh, kneeling on the floor in front of Romeo Blue, and Herc, who has his forehead pressed against Lucky Seven.

_Listen closely, doctors,_  Aleksis’ voice says.  _And you will know._

And Newt and Hermann hear them. The sound of the triplets playing basketball, the faint sound of Ukranian Hardhouse, the voices of all the dead pilots, mixed together, filling the air with their conversations, their laughter. The two scientists fall into a sort of silence, revelling in the wonder of the dead Jaeger pilots’ voices, talking and laughing and crying, just like how they would if they were alive. And in the midst of it all they can hear the Jaegers too, the sound of pistons pushing up and down, creaking of metal limbs, flashing sounds of lights turning on and off, beeping and purring and humming, even though they all lie in pieces on the ground. 

As death communes with life, both the living and the deceased come alive together as the music of the Jaegers and the voices of the dead pilots wrap around the graveyard, bringing the place of death into a flurry of life.

Their questions are answered, and the reality of it all is so much more satisfying than anything they would ever imagine it to be.


End file.
